The principal cast members have been announced for Atom the Beginning, an upcoming TV anime based on the prequel series to Osamu Tezuka's classic Astro Boy manga. The main characters for Atom the Beginning include:

Yuichi Nakamura as Umataro Tenma. Tenma is a brilliant but arrogant graduate student who conducts robotics research at Lab 07 of Nerima University. Tenma has absolute confidence in his work, and he sometimes collaborates with Ochanomizu.

Takuma Terashima as Hiroshi Ochanomizu, a graduate student who also works at Lab 07 at Nerima University. Ochanomizu has a gentle and friendly personality, and he tends to get dragged along with whatever plans Tenma makes. Ochanomizu is known for his large nose and naturally curly hair, but his eccentric appearance often makes him unlucky with the ladies.

Yuki Inoue as A106 (pronounced "A-Ten-Six"), the 6th unit of the A10 robot series developed by Tenma and Ochanomizu. A106 is being developed according to the design philosophy of Lab 07's "Bewußtsein System" (Bewußtsein means "awareness" in German), which states that programming a robot with an ego will lead to it developing autonomous learning behavior.

The Atom the Beginning manga is written and illustrated by Tetsuro Kasahara (with story contributions by Makoto Tezuka and Masami Yuki) and is serialized in Shogakukan's Monthly Hero's seinen manga magazine. The Atom the Beginning TV anime is directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro and Tatsuo Satō and features animation by OLM, Inc., Production I.G, and Signal.MD.

Atom the Beginning will broadcast on NHK beginning in the Spring season of 2017.